15. The East Coast’s Biggest 1970s Drug Kingpin
Frank Matthews was a big and muscular man, and that helped secure him gigs as a collector and enforcer in NYC. He eventually ditched that line of work and got into the drug trade when he discovered that there was far more money in that. The Italian mafia controlled the heroin trade at the time, but when Matthews tried to do business with them, they rejected him. From then on, he had an antipathy towards the Italian mafia, and avoided working with them whenever possible. In lieu of Italian mobsters, he partnered up with a Cuban drug dealer. His partner was forced to flee the US soon thereafter to avoid an indictment, and set Matthews up with his South American contacts and suppliers.
Within a year, Matthews had become one of NYC’s biggest drug dealers. By the early 1970s, he was the East Coast’s biggest narcotics trafficker. At the peak of his career, Matthews supplied major drug dealers throughout the US, and had operations in 21 states, from Boston to Alabama, and as far west as Missouri. In 1971, he held a “summit” meeting in Atlanta of the country’s biggest African-American drug dealers, to discuss new supply pipelines to break the Italians’ stranglehold on heroin importation. Reportedly, it was this gathering of black crime bosses that got another black gangster, Nicky Barnes, to think about setting up a “Council” to coordinate the activity of a black mafia. Matthews savored his success to the fullest. He enjoyed the high life, and lived it up with luxury cars, huge fur coats, and trips to Las Vegas where he was treated like royalty.
